February 6, 2018 | Eli Freund - School of Engineering

New Navy STEM Class Hosts First Distinguished Speaker

The new Navy STEM Program hosted their first distinguished seminar speaker, Vice Admiral (Ret) Mike Connor, founder of ThayerMahan, on Wednesday, January 31, 2018. Recognized globally as one of the foremost authorities in undersea operations, Mike brings a wealth of experience.  In his 35 year career, he rose to the rank of Vice Admiral in […]

The new Navy STEM Program hosted their first distinguished seminar speaker, Vice Admiral (Ret) Mike Connor, founder of ThayerMahan, on Wednesday, January 31, 2018. Recognized globally as one of the foremost authorities in undersea operations, Mike brings a wealth of experience.  In his 35 year career, he rose to the rank of Vice Admiral in the United States Navy and commanded the United States Submarine Force and NATO’s Allied Submarine Command from 2012 to 2015.

Connor gave an hour long presentation to students enrolled in the ENGR 3109, Navy STEM Professional Development Seminar. ENGR 3109 is a new course being offered as part of the new Naval Science and Technology Concentration. Students enrolled in the concentration will join the newly formed Navy STEM Crew and will participate in a variety of special activities, including seminars, internship and career recruiting events, field trips and the annual Navy STEM Discovery Day event to be held Saturday, April 7th this year.

Joshua Dupont, a junior in the Mechanical Engineering program enrolled in the ENGR 3109 course, aptly summarized Mike’s presentation, “This seminar, delivered chiefly by former US Navy Admiral Mike Conner, presented Thayer-Mahan’s endeavors to design, test, and implement a small unmanned sonar vessel. Traditionally, the monitoring and tracking of submersible or surface vessels involved sending expensive (billions of dollars) submarines and their crews overseas. Connor and his associates are developing an independent, self-powering sonar array (dragged along by a miniature surface vessel) that can be deployed for months at a time, sending tracking information back to customers via satellite communication.” Mike’s fascinating and engaging presentation was greatly appreciated by the students, which was made evident by their barrage of questions during his presentation and after class.

Mike Connor is the first in an impressive line-up of distinguished speakers who will be giving engaging seminar presentations in the Navy STEM Professional Seminar ENGR 3109 course this semester. If you would like more information regarding the new Navy STEM program, contact the program administrator, Stephanie Wanne.